Talk of the Town - Richard Pears on all things Exmouth Town

Exmouth Town boss Richard Pears speaks about the win over Alphington, his thoughts of what lies ahead this season, his views on the wider squad and also looking ahead to Saturday’s game at Teignmouth Town.

First up on the 5-1 win over Alphington on the second Saturday of 2013. Town boss Richard Pears said: “In the first instance let’s dish the praise on the ground staff who clearly put an incredible amount of work into getting the game on and it’s testament to that effort that the team then produced the goods. To the regular observer I guess they’d expect a manager to be chuffed with a 5-1 home win, five different scorers and an all-round excellent contribution across the park. However, I was not happy at half-time and I told the players that what was still so clearly lacking was our apparent inability to get ruthless with an opponent, especially when they are so obviously on the ropes. I want more from this set of players and I know they have more to give. That’s not something I say to sound arrogant, but I am here to do a job for Exmouth Town and I intend to that job, part of which is getting our team to be completely ruthless when the chance presents itself. To be fair to the team, after our chat at half-time they were indeed ruthless in the way that they despatched Alphington in the second half. It was not easy on a testing Southern Road surface after all that rain and we moved the ball around exceptionally well. We were clinical with our finishing after the break and it was music to my ears to have Alpha’s boss John Moore lavish praise on the way we played. He said he felt we out-classed his team. John puts out good solid teams himself so to hear that sort of sentiment was very pleasing. “

On the bigger picture, particularly with Town taking over at the top, Pears said: “I’d rather be hitting top spot with a week to go in the season for we’d then be mighty close to sealing the title. That said it’s no more than this group of players deserve to sit top of the table. They are a very honest bunch of footballers with no small amount of talent between them and if they keep producing the individual and collective goods then the sky really is the limit for what they can achieve. What they have to observe though is the understanding that only the hardest of work will get them over the line from hereon in. Hitting top spot in mid-January means we are doing something right. Staying there and seeing the campaign out in that spot will recognise us as the best team in the Eastern Division and that is very much something I desire for this team and for Exmouth Town Football Club.”

Pears makes no secret of the fact that he is working with a squad of 16, any one of which is good enough to nail a staring berth. However, they can’t all start, something not lost on Pears who says: “It’s tough picking a starting eleven and in turn leaving the other five out. However, what I am constantly doing is looking for reactions and attitude. I want to see how different players react for this game is not about a starting eleven. These days it’s about 16 plus. Injuries come and go and any team that has ambitions on a successful season will probably use more than 16 players in a single campaign, especially when they are fighting on more than one front. In our case it’s still three fronts and so, as I have said before, every member of the 1st team squad, be they feeling they are numbers five, six or seven or fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, they can all expect to be called upon to do a job or three at some point in the season. Those reactions to being left out are things I look for as I continue to have an eye on the longer term here at Southern Read. I want players who are hungry to player but equally who recognise that different games call for different types of players and there will be games when certain players are not necessarily the best ones for the job whereas in other games the players left out for one match may well become the match winner in the next one. Any player who shows that they are not able to buy into what I desire won’t be with me for too long. I see this as a ‘being in it together’ thing. It’s been great fun so far and I am sure there’s more to come in terms of what this team can give and what this team can achieve.”

On Saturday Town take their unbeaten league record to Teignmouth. Pears says: “This will be a tough game. We have players who have played for Teignmouth which will be helpful as it is always a difficult place to go. I am confident that it we do the things we are god at and focus on all aspects of our play then we will get the desired result. We will train in midweek and ensure that we are as prepared as we can be to go down there and do a job.”

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